Why can't we be like normal people and go to the beach for our summer vacation?

Belle Renovation Update

So in the laborious process of creating and managing the budget for Belle's renovation, it became very clear that there was not enough money to have someone scrape and paint the outside of Belle. Jeff and I casually said "We will do it, how hard can it be?".... famous last words.

Let me give you a sense of what we are dealing with here... the paint is failing everywhere and pealing off, boards are rotten and forget the calk... it is shot! Oh boy what have we gotten ourselves into?

So we made a plan, used up all our vacation, had to tell our friends we couldn't do anything fun with them this summer.... and got to work. First put up the scaffolding... yes, we own scaffolding (don't judge!)

Then we started scraping... and scraping... and scraping... and scraping (you get the idea).
It is amazing how much your knuckles bleed when you scrape an old house... who knew!

 Here is a close up of what we are doing... this is the original product. lovely, right?

 Ok getting better after a little hand scraping....

 Now a little sanding....  now we are talking....

Then primer....

The calk and two coast of paint... easy right?
Problem is it is a 3,000 square foot house... ugh.

So we work, and work, and work....

And then one side is done and it looks AMAZING.... 

 So we move to the next side... and start all over again...

We are not done yet... but here are a couple fun before and after pictures so far...

Before

 AFTER....
right?????

Lets do it again.....

Before.....

After!!!
Yahooo!

So even though our hands are destroyed, our bodies ache all over, and we wish we were at the beach like normal people.... it is hard not to admit that having the time to build something amazing with your own hands is pretty darn awesome!

Back to painting we go.....